'Animal Man' #21: The Comic You Should Be Reading This Week, And More Reviews

“Satirizing” “celebrity culture” is often a cheap and lazy grab for relevance. Throw a few weak jabs at a few easy targets (KIM! KANYE! AMANDA!), bemoan how shallow people are that they follow the every motion of dolts, and collect a paycheck. Social media has made this more intense, and made the “satire” even lazier. Leave it to Jeff Lemire and Steve Pugh to not only take the topic seriously, but make it fresh with, of all heroes, Animal Man.

Buddy Baker is in the limelight because of a surprise nomination for Best Actor. He was in an indie movie about a struggling superhero called “Tights”, and the nomination couldn’t come at a worse possible time. Buddy’s marriage is a wreck, his son is dead, he’s lost all connection to the eminences behind his powers, and he’s emotionally adrift.

Lemire and Pugh have been consistently handing in superb work on this title, and this issue, kicking off a new arc, is no exception. And we see some new skills in action: Pugh turns out to be pretty slick with the layouts, and Lemire, in addition to being a great comics writer, turns out to be really good at satirizing self-centered Twitter douchebaggery.

It’s more than a gimmick, though. Lemire contrasts Buddy’s struggles with the superficial and crappy way other people treat it: “Mullet” is a trending hashtag thanks to his son’s death, for example, and as he tries to take his mind off his troubles by being a superhero again, we see the… variable reaction on social media. Animal Man #21 is a subtly thoughtful issue that often contrasts the frivolity, self-righteousness and nattering of even people who proclaim to be Buddy’s fans with the hard realities of emotional pain, and for that, it’s worth picking up.

On the other hand, maybe you want to see a dead guy curbstomp some clown zombie midgets. Or perhaps the full release list, at the end of the slideshow.

I’ll always pick up a number one book if I happen to see it, because, hey, you never know. I’d be lying if I said I’m not often disappointed, but Ehmm Theory is goofy and offbeat enough to genuinely work.

Gabriel is a guy, unjustly killed by his girlfriend, who gets sent back to Earth with the kitten who died with him, who can now talk, to try and find his biological father. Needless to say, this involves being dumped in a graveyard for a circus town right as a bunch of gaily dressed tiny zombies start crawling out of their graves.

Brockton McKinney’s self-consciously goofy and ridiculous script works largely because it doesn’t ask us to take it remotely seriously. And in truth there are some rough edges here: The layouts can feel a bit more like a webcomic than a comic book, and artist Larkin Ford, while talented, seems to be unsure in some panels whether he wants a more realistic or cartoony style, and rushed for time on some pages.

Regardless, though, it’s a goofy, entertaining read from start to finish, and hey, those midget zombies had it coming.

Jai Nitz and Greg Smallwood are knocking this book consistently out of the park. Nitz mixes noir and superheroics smoothly and cleverly, with a hero who, when he sleeps, is possessed by the dead and takes revenge. Smallwood’s clean, direct art ably supports the story and gives the themes of loss and betrayal a certain weight. If you like heroes gritty, this is the book to read.

One of the biggest fan favorites from 100 Bullets gets his own miniseries and… honestly, it’s not quite the explosive start many fans were probably hoping for. Azzarello establishes what Lono has been up to since 100 Bullets ended, and that the local gangs in his area are… unpleasant, violent people. Lono himself, though, doesn’t get to do much in this opening issue. It’s great that they’ve gotten the band back together, but so far, they’re just tuning up.

Or, Kyle Rayner gets stuck with a babysitting job, although that’s an unfair summary of Justin Jordan’s take on the book. The “New Guardians” refer to, quite literally, new Guardians; a bunch of the Smurfy godlike beings have been locked up beyond space and time, and they want to poke around. Being Guardians, they decide to go poke a space tumor, and no points for guessing that’s a bad idea.

Jordan delivers some fun, solid space opera and actually writes Kyle quite strongly. Kyle is still trying to get a handle on the events in the Lantern universe, and being stuck with a bunch of Guardians doesn’t suit his tastes. It’s a solid first issue, but hopefully there’s a little more to it going forward.

Richard Corben wraps up his odd take on Edgar Allan Poe’s short story. It’s compelling, and Corben knows how to adapt the material, but you do find yourself wondering why Corben made the effort. But either way, it’s certainly appreciated; a fun read.

Mike Mignola, Christopher Golden, and Ben Steinbeck deliver yet another dose of Baltimore, this time focused on how, precisely, the Vatican would react if a vampiric plague began spreading all across Europe. As you might have guessed from the titles, not in a cuddly way. It’s a fun book, and stands on its own, worth seeking out for horror comics fans.

B.P.R.D. continues its epic story of the Earth nearly cracking in half and military response to Lovecraftian beasties, and ends with an important moral: Never trust a small child in a horror book to do the smart thing. It’s a lot of fun, but it’s more for fans of the series right now than for new readers.

Davide Gianfelice and Brian Wood continue a trip to the center of the respective minds of Conan and Belit, via a yellow lotus drug trip. It’s a bit odd to read about Conan having a hallucination about being a father, but it’s a compelling story from Wood, nonetheless. Great for Conan fans, especially.

Collecting the stories from Dark Horse Presents, this particular book features a Nazi nearly being fed to a polar bear. Really, do you need to know anything else?

OK, OK, so this is actually an attempt on Dark Horse’s part to revive a once popular and now fairly obscure hero for the modern era. As a result it’s somewhat pulpy, but in a good way. Collecting the Dark Horse Presents stories, Joshua Williamson’s attempt is solid but we’ll want to see where the actual book goes.

Joe Harris and Chris Carter have an interesting plot, but unfortunately, this book is let down a bit by the art. Michael Walsh’s art seems very rough here, bland and lacking in detail. This could very well be due to a lack of time, or something along those lines, and the book is still a good read, but it’s a bit disappointing the art isn’t up to the script.

It’s hard to know what to make of Mike Raicht and Zach Howard’s book, at first. It’s essentially set entirely in a society among the skies, with lots of dogfights, jetpacks, and general aviation heroics. It’s well drawn, and told from the perspective of the new guy on the ship, and it’s an engaging first issue, pulpy but straightfaced, and it’s got some real promise.

Bloodshot continues to be one of the oddest and most entertaining books Valiant puts out. This issue is particularly weird with Bloodshot being attacked by a squadron of military-trained, battle-hardened… butchers. But it’s still pretty funny, and hey, Bloodshot finally gets his face back!

Speaking of Bloodshot, he runs into the Harbinger in this issue. As in literally. Joshua Dysart basically turns a big superhero fight into a fairly amusing comedy of errors, and it’s a fun, sprawling crossover. If you’re not up on Harbinger Wars, this is worth getting. Although you do feel bad for poor Faith.

more X-Men Legacy, and Age Of Ultron finishes up which should be cool.
Also Max Brook’s “Extinction Parade” #1 drops today, can’t wait to check it out. surprised you didn’t mention it, especially since WWZ comes out in a few days. Avatar is marketing it like crazy.

Uncanny Avengers, Superior Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, Supergirl, Wonder Woman, Bloodshot*, and Harbinger* this week, plus The Hypernaturals finale that finally came in the store, Killjoys, and Triggergirl 6 because I wanted to cap out at 40 bucks. I’ve yet to read the Valiant books and the non-Hypernatural, non-Valiant indies.

So far, my favorite moment came from Uncanny Avengers, where Rogue & Scarlet Witch made like the Internet when Alex-gate hit and argued during a training simulation over Havok’s speech in issue 5.

*Would like to point out that my LCBS scored for me and I got the 8-bit version covers to these comics, with Bloodshot aping Contra & Harby going Double Dragon.

Grabbed a bunch of the usual Avengers and Xmen titles, Wonder Woman, and tried out the XFiles Season 10. I have to admit, I haven’t watched an episode in over 10 years but I still hear their voices when I read their lines.